AM News: Black Male Teachers Becoming Extinct?

Black male teachers becoming extinct CNN: Terris King, 25, a kindergarten teacher at the Bishop John T. Walker School in Washington D.C., believes that for African-American children, having a strong role model in front of them can make a huge difference.

Online Public Schools Gain Popularity, but Quality Questions Persist PBS: Full-time public cyber schools are now an option in 30 states, allowing some 250,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade to press buttons to raise their hands and message their teachers. John Tulenko of Learning Matters Television reports from Pennsylvania where the demand for online charter schools is high.

A Cautionary Tale on SIG in Colorado Politics K12: Folks following the implementation of the School Improvement Grant program should check out this story inThe Denver Post, which took a look at a handful of SIG schools run by Global Partnership Schools.

Ed. Dept. to Closely Monitor Subgroups in NCLB Waiver States Politics K12: With 11 states now freed from some parts of the No Child Left Behind Act, and another round of states readying their waiver applications, the U.S. Department of Education has turned to perhaps the most important part of the process: holding states to their new accountability promises.

District seeks return of chartering authority Washington Post: D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson are discussing a plan to restore the District’s power to create public charter schools as part of an effort to raise the quality of education in low-income communities.

Virginia seeks No Child Left Behind waiver Washington Post: The Virginia State Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to request relief from key parts of the federal No Child Left Behind law, which has drawn widespread criticism for saddling schools with unrealistic achievement goals and harsh penalties.